WEBVTT

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Imagine for a second that you are just completely

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utterly exhausted. Like bone tired. Right. You

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have been stuck in this grinding, horrifying

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stalemate for four long years. Every single day

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is a miserable fight for literal inches of muddy

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cratered ground. You're just surrounded by rusted

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barbed wire. Yeah. And the constant deafening

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roar of artillery that just shakes your bones.

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It's that overwhelming feeling that this Nightmare

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is simply never gonna end. Because the lines

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on the map, they really haven't meaningfully

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moved since the war began. Not really, no. And

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then suddenly in a single morning everything

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changes. The static horror? of World War I trench

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warfare has just blown wide open. In one massive,

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devastatingly coordinated strike, we are talking

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about an 11 kilometer breakthrough in a matter

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of hours. Which is just staggering. It is. Welcome

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to the Deep Dive. Today we are taking our stack

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of sources, the historical records, the diaries,

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the tactical maps, and we're heading to the Western

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Front. Specifically, August 8th, 1918. The Battle

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of Amiens. It truly stands as one of the most

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dramatic momentum shifting moments in early 20th

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century history. Our mission today, as we synthesize

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these sources, is to really understand the mechanics

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of this sudden shift. Right. We want to break

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down how the Allies managed to shatter that seemingly

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unbreakable stalemate. And deliver a blow so

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profound that it became forever known as the

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Black Day of the German Army. We are going to

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look at the deception, the technology, and honestly

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the sheer human endurance that made it possible.

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The level of secrecy and the complex coordination

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we're seeing in these documents, it's astonishing.

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It is. When you read through the timelines, it

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feels less like a traditional military. campaign

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and more like, I don't know, a heist fakes heist.

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Yeah, like a heist movie but executed with hundreds

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of thousands of troops. Exactly, and hundreds

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of armored tanks and this unprecedented web of

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multi -sensory deception. It requires asking

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how an entire army essentially vanishes into

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thin air. Right, only to reappear exactly where

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the enemy least expects them. The scale of that

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deception is staggering, especially when we place

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it within the broader context of the spring and

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summer of 1918. Because both the allied and central

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powers were just completely spent after years

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of attritional warfare. Exactly. But the strategy

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implemented at Amiens didn't merely break the

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physical trenches. No, it completely broke the

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psychological will of an entire empire. And to

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understand how an army that has held firm through

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years of unimaginable bombardment suddenly watches

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its lines evaporate in a single morning. We have

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to examine the profound exhaustion and desperation

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that preceded it. Right. I want you, the listener,

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to keep that psychological state in mind as we

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go through this. Put yourself in the boots of

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those soldiers witnessing this impossible breakthrough.

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Okay, let's unpack this. Let's look at the gritty

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reality of the Western Front in the early months

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of 1918. Good place to start. To grasp the magnitude

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of the Amian breakthrough, we first need to understand

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the terrifying position the Allies found themselves

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in just a few months prior. It was incredibly

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bleak. According to the strategic overviews in

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our sources, in early 1918, Germany suddenly

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possessed this massive, albeit temporary, advantage

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in manpower. How did they suddenly get this massive

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influx of troops? Well, that influx ties directly

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back to the geopolitical collapse happening on

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the opposite side of the continent. In Russia.

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Exactly. The Russian Empire had fallen to revolution,

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and the new Bolshevik government signed the Treaty

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of Brest -Litovsk with the Central Powers. And

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that treaty formally ended the war on the Eastern

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Front. Right. And for the German High Command,

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this was a monumental windfall. Because they

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suddenly had upwards of 50 divisions. Hundreds

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of thousands of battle -hardened... immediately

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loaded these forces onto trains, rushed them

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directly to the Western Front in France and Belgium.

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It fundamentally shifted the balance of power

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overnight. It really did. The Allies had been

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fighting a two -front war, relying on Russia

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to keep German forces occupied in the East. But

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with Russia out, all that German military might

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was now pointing directly at the British and

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French lines. But the sources also indicate that

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the German leadership knew this advantage came

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with a very strict expiration date. They were

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acutely aware of the ticking clock across the

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Atlantic. The Americans. Yes. The United States

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had entered the war, and American troops were

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actively mobilizing, training, and beginning

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to arrive in France in ever increasing numbers.

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Every passing week meant the American Expeditionary

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Force was growing stronger. The German leadership.

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particularly General Eric Ludendorff, understood

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that their numerical superiority was strictly

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temporary. He was a desperate gamble. They had

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to launch a decisive war winning offensive to

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crush the British and French before the American

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manpower tipped the scales permanently and irreversibly

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against them. That sets the stage for Operation

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Michael, launched on March 21st, 1918. The objective

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was to drive a wedge between the British and

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French armies, push the British back toward the

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English Channel and essentially knock them out

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of the war entirely. But Operation Michael was

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merely the opening salvo. It was the first in

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an exhausting series of overwhelming massive

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attacks known as the German Spring Offensive.

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The German command utilized these highly trained

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shock troops, right? The Stormtroopers to bypass

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strong points and infiltrate deep into Allied

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lines. Following Operation Michael, they launched

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Operation Georgette in April, Blucher York in

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May, Nice and out in June and the Marnereen's

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offensive in mid -July. They were throwing the

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absolute totality of their resources at the Allied

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lines. Desperately searching for that one critical

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weak point that would shatter the front. And

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reading through the operational maps, one of

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their absolute primary targets during these offensives

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was the city of Emile. Amiens was crucial. It

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wasn't just a dot on the map. It was situated

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in the Picardie region of northern France, and

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it served as the logistical heart for the Allies

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in that sector. A vital railway junction. Exactly.

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In an era where you needed trains to move millions

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of artillery shells, coal, and troops. Losing

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Amiens would have been catastrophic. If the Germans

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took that rail hub, they could sever the critical

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supply lines that connected the French armies

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in the south to the British armies in the north.

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The stakes were existential for the Allies. If

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Emian's fell, the British expeditionary force

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could have been entirely cut off from its French

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allies and pinned against the sea. But the German

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advance, despite its initial ferocity and deep

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penetrations, was finally brought to a halt.

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At a small town called Villers -Bretonneux, just

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a few miles east of Emian by a determined defense

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from British and Australian troops in early April.

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The Germans continued to push elsewhere along

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the front, bleeding themselves dry, but they

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never captured Amia. And they never achieved

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that final decisive breakthrough. It brings to

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mind a very specific scenario. Think of a fighter

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who knows they are behind on the scorecards.

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OK. So in the final rounds, they pour every single

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ounce of their remaining energy into a massive

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flurry of heavy punches. Swinging wildly. Right,

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trying to secure a knockout. But if the opponent

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manages to cover up and survive that flurry,

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the attacking fighter is going to be completely

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gassed out. Their arms will be heavy. their lungs

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burning. They will have absolutely nothing left

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in the tank to defend themselves. That mirrors

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the state of the German Army by the end of their

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Marne Rheams offensive in July 1918 perfectly.

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The German war machine had completely exhausted

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itself. Their manpower reserves from the east

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were spent. Their supply lines were stretched

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to the breaking point over the newly captured

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cratered terrain. And the surviving troops were

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starving, demoralized and physically ruined.

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The flurry of punches had failed. The Allied

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Supreme Commander, General Ferdinand Fogg, recognized

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this strategic exhaustion immediately. He saw

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that the German salient, the bulge they had created

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in the Allied lines was deeply vulnerable. So

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Fogg ordered an immediate counteroffensive, resulting

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in a major Allied victory at the Second Battle

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of the Marne in late July. That victory actually

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earned Fogg a promotion to Marshal of France.

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A fitting reward for turning the tide. Definitely.

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Following that defeat at the Marne, the German

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forces were forced into a fighting withdrawal

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back toward the north. But Fasch understood that

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simply halting the German attack was not enough.

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He needed to seize the initiative and permanently

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transition the allied armies from a defensive

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posture into a relentless coordinated offensive.

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But the allies couldn't just resort to the tactics

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of 1916. They couldn't go back to the Battle

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of the Somme Playbook, where they would bombard

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a trench line for a week and then send tens of

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thousands of infantrymen walking slowly across

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no man's land. Only to be butchered by surviving

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machine guns. If they were going to counter -attack

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at Amiens, they needed a completely new operational

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doctrine. That brings us to the strategic masterminds

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who orchestrated this shift. On July 23rd, fresh

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off the momentum of the Marne victory, Foch outlined

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his grand strategy. His immediate priority was

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to reduce the various salience the Germans had

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carved into the lines. Crucially, he wanted to

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push the Germans far enough back from Amiens

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to entirely free those vital railway lines from

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the constant threat of long range German artillery

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fire. Interestingly, The commander of the British

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Expeditionary Force, Field Marshal Sir Douglas

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Haig, alongside General Sir Henry Rawlinson of

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the British 4th Army, had already been independently

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developing a plan for a major offensive in that

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exact sector. When the British lines had stabilized

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back in April, Rawlinson's 4th Army had taken

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over the front, straddling the Somme River. The

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deployment placed the British 3rd Corps under

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Lieutenant General Richard Butler north of the

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river. and the Australian Corps, commanded by

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Lieutenant General John Monash, to the south.

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We need to spend some time looking at Lieutenant

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General John Monash. Yes, because the historical

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consensus in our sources points to him as the

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true tactical architect of the Amiens breakthrough.

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A pivotal administrative change occurred on May

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30th. All five Australian infantry divisions

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were united under a single corps headquarters,

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with Monash in command for the very first time.

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Monash is a deeply compelling figure in military

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history. He really is. Before the war he was

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a civil engineer and a pioneer in reinforced

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concrete construction in Australia. He brought

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that exact same meticulous mathematical engineering

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mindset to the battlefield. He was not a member

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of the traditional aristocratic military establishment.

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Field Marshal Hague, who was often highly critical

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of his subordinates, noted in his own diary that

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Monash had all the threads of the operation in

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his hands. Monash view the traditional method

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of trench warfare, the endless agonizing artillery

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bombardments, followed by waves of unprotected

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infantry as intellectually bankrupt and needlessly.

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wasteful of human life. His operational philosophy

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was radically modern. Monash believed in relying

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on technology, supreme surprise, and above all,

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coordinated arms. He envisioned a battlefield

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where tanks, airplanes, artillery, and infantry

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did not fight isolated battles. But operated

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as one seamless, highly synchronized machine.

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And Monash had already field -tested this exact

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philosophy. Just five weeks prior to Amyan, on

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July 4th. He orchestrated a localized, highly

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successful counter -attack known as the The German

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defenders at Hamel were deeply entrenched in

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advantageous terrain with vast interlocking fields

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of machine gun fire. These were the types of

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positions that had historically taken months

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and tens of thousands of lives to capture. But

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at Hamel, Monash discarded the traditional playbook.

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He didn't order days of preliminary artillery

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shelling, which would have only cratered the

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ground and warned the Germans an attack was imminent.

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Instead, the artillery remained completely silent

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until the exact minute the infantry and the newly

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supplied tanks began moving forward together.

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The coordination was so precise and the surprise

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so total. that the German defenders were rapidly

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overrun with relatively minimal allied casualties.

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It was a flawless proof of concept. The success

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at Hamel proved that the open, chalky terrain

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south of the Salm River was perfectly suited

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for a massive, large -scale offensive utilizing

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these combined arms tactics. Consequently, General

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Rawlinson took Monash's proposals, expanded them,

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and submitted the grand plan to Haig in mid -July.

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Haig then forwarded the concept to Marshal But

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this planning phase was not without significant

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friction between the Allied commanders. Rawlinson

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and Monash were absolutely adamant that the entire

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success of the Amiens operation hinged on achieving

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total paralyzing surprise. To do that, they planned

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to utilize armor on a scale never before seen.

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By the summer of 1918, British factories were

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finally producing advanced tanks in large numbers.

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The British commanders wanted to skip the preliminary

00:13:08.809 --> 00:13:11.549
artillery bombardment entirely, send hundreds

00:13:11.549 --> 00:13:13.649
of tanks crashing through the wire and catch

00:13:13.649 --> 00:13:16.309
the German defenders completely unaware. Fox,

00:13:16.470 --> 00:13:18.350
however, during a critical planning meeting on

00:13:18.350 --> 00:13:21.809
July 24th, agreed to the overall concept, but

00:13:21.809 --> 00:13:24.529
imposed one major condition. He insisted that

00:13:24.529 --> 00:13:27.269
the French First Army, commanded by General Marie

00:13:27.269 --> 00:13:30.269
-Eugène Devanay, must participate in the attack.

00:13:30.629 --> 00:13:32.929
The French First Army was holding the line immediately

00:13:32.929 --> 00:13:35.090
to the south of the British Fourth Army. From

00:13:35.090 --> 00:13:37.549
Rawlinson's perspective, this presented a massive

00:13:37.549 --> 00:13:39.970
tactical problem. The French First Army did not

00:13:39.970 --> 00:13:42.960
possess a fleet of heavy tanks. If the French

00:13:42.960 --> 00:13:46.120
lacked armor to break the barbed wire and suppress

00:13:46.120 --> 00:13:48.860
the machine guns, they would have no choice but

00:13:48.860 --> 00:13:52.399
to rely on a traditional hours long artillery

00:13:52.399 --> 00:13:55.340
bombardment to soften up the German trenches

00:13:55.340 --> 00:13:58.480
before their infantry could advance. And if the

00:13:58.480 --> 00:14:00.799
French started indiscriminately blasting the

00:14:00.799 --> 00:14:03.879
German lines with high explosives. The element

00:14:03.879 --> 00:14:06.259
of surprise for the entire Allied line would

00:14:06.259 --> 00:14:09.120
vanish instantly. Every German unit in the sector

00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:11.620
would immediately know a major offensive was

00:14:11.620 --> 00:14:14.360
underway. It was a profound strategic impasse.

00:14:14.539 --> 00:14:16.940
The British reliance on technological surprise

00:14:16.940 --> 00:14:19.480
was clashing directly with the French reality

00:14:19.480 --> 00:14:22.379
of traditional infantry tactics. However, they

00:14:22.379 --> 00:14:26.529
eventually negotiated a brilliant The French

00:14:26.529 --> 00:14:28.950
forces would indeed participate and secure the

00:14:28.950 --> 00:14:31.149
southern flank, but they would not fire a single

00:14:31.149 --> 00:14:33.570
artillery shell or launch their infantry assault

00:14:33.570 --> 00:14:36.809
until exactly 45 minutes after the British, Australian

00:14:36.809 --> 00:14:39.029
and Canadian forces had already launched their

00:14:39.029 --> 00:14:41.940
surprise armored thrust. It preserves the initial

00:14:41.940 --> 00:14:45.460
shock and awe for the main spearhead, while still

00:14:45.460 --> 00:14:47.620
bringing the immense weight of the French military

00:14:47.620 --> 00:14:50.419
into the engagement shortly after the chaos had

00:14:50.419 --> 00:14:53.019
already begun. They also adjusted the timeline,

00:14:53.159 --> 00:14:55.360
pulling the date of the attack forward from August

00:14:55.360 --> 00:14:57.980
10th to August 8th. They wanted to strike while

00:14:57.980 --> 00:15:00.120
the German forces were still disorganized and

00:15:00.120 --> 00:15:02.559
attempting to dig in after their long, exhausting

00:15:02.559 --> 00:15:05.080
retreat from the Marne. The operational blueprint

00:15:05.080 --> 00:15:08.360
was finalized. Rawlinson met with his corps commanders

00:15:08.360 --> 00:15:23.820
on July 21st, to solidify the details. This specific

00:15:23.820 --> 00:15:26.379
deployment is historically notable because it

00:15:26.379 --> 00:15:29.600
placed the highly regarded Australian Corps and

00:15:29.600 --> 00:15:32.299
the equally formidable Canadian Corps attacking

00:15:32.299 --> 00:15:34.460
shoulder -to -shoulder for the very first time.

00:15:34.720 --> 00:15:37.340
Here's where it gets really interesting. Because

00:15:37.340 --> 00:15:40.379
drafting a brilliant, technologically advanced

00:15:40.379 --> 00:15:43.039
plan in a chateau headquarters is one thing.

00:15:43.220 --> 00:15:45.460
Actually executing it on the ground is a completely

00:15:45.460 --> 00:15:48.299
different universe. The logistics of hiding an

00:15:48.299 --> 00:15:51.519
army of hundreds of thousands of men, thousands

00:15:51.519 --> 00:15:54.659
of artillery pieces, and literally hundreds of

00:15:54.659 --> 00:15:58.000
massive deafening tanks from an enemy entrenched

00:15:58.000 --> 00:16:01.100
just a few hundred yards away. It requires a

00:16:01.100 --> 00:16:03.789
level of deception that is frankly difficult

00:16:03.789 --> 00:16:06.389
to comprehend. We are looking at one of the most

00:16:06.389 --> 00:16:09.429
elaborate multi -layered bluffs in military history.

00:16:09.769 --> 00:16:12.190
Consider the logistical nightmare of moving the

00:16:12.190 --> 00:16:15.490
Canadian Corps alone. You have four entire fully

00:16:15.490 --> 00:16:17.970
equipped infantry divisions, roughly a hundred

00:16:17.970 --> 00:16:20.409
thousand men, that need to be secretly transported

00:16:20.409 --> 00:16:22.700
from their positions near Arras. all the way

00:16:22.700 --> 00:16:24.899
down to the Amiens sector, without the German

00:16:24.899 --> 00:16:26.980
observation balloons or reconnaissance planes

00:16:26.980 --> 00:16:29.500
noticing a single thing. The sources emphasize

00:16:29.500 --> 00:16:31.820
that pulling this off was a supreme testament

00:16:31.820 --> 00:16:34.320
to how highly evolved the staff work of the British

00:16:34.320 --> 00:16:37.779
armies had become by 1918. They didn't just enforce

00:16:37.779 --> 00:16:40.720
strict blackout rules. They actively constructed

00:16:40.720 --> 00:16:44.100
a massive complex diversion. The Allied command

00:16:44.100 --> 00:16:46.279
took a tiny detachment from the Canadian Corps.

00:16:46.460 --> 00:16:49.039
Just two infantry battalions, a wireless radio

00:16:49.039 --> 00:16:51.080
communications unit, and a casualty clearing

00:16:51.080 --> 00:16:53.460
station. And they shipped them all the way north

00:16:53.460 --> 00:16:57.299
to the Ypres salient in Flanders, Belgium. To

00:16:57.299 --> 00:16:59.799
understand why that specific location matters,

00:17:00.179 --> 00:17:02.259
we have to look at German intelligence estimates.

00:17:02.740 --> 00:17:05.259
The German high command knew an allied attack

00:17:05.259 --> 00:17:07.700
was inevitable. But they were trying to predict

00:17:07.700 --> 00:17:10.779
where the blow would fall. They strongly suspected

00:17:10.779 --> 00:17:13.460
an offensive would come either further east near

00:17:13.460 --> 00:17:16.819
Reims or far to the north in Flanders near Mount

00:17:16.819 --> 00:17:19.619
Kemmel. By sending this highly visible, noisy

00:17:19.619 --> 00:17:22.940
Canadian detachment up to Flanders, the Allies

00:17:22.940 --> 00:17:25.440
were intentionally feeding the German intelligence

00:17:25.440 --> 00:17:27.900
apparatus exactly what they expected to see.

00:17:28.059 --> 00:17:30.140
It functions like a massive sleight of hand trick.

00:17:30.250 --> 00:17:32.990
The Canadian wireless unit up in Flanders starts

00:17:32.990 --> 00:17:35.390
broadcasting massive amounts of radio traffic.

00:17:35.549 --> 00:17:38.369
The medics set up highly visible casualty clearing

00:17:38.369 --> 00:17:41.029
stations. They make sure German spotters clearly

00:17:41.029 --> 00:17:44.109
see the distinct Canadian uniform insignia moving

00:17:44.109 --> 00:17:46.309
around the northern trenches. They're actively

00:17:46.309 --> 00:17:48.869
waving a red flag up north to force the Germans

00:17:48.869 --> 00:17:51.650
to look the wrong way. While the actual 100 ,000

00:17:51.650 --> 00:17:54.369
man corps slips quietly into the southern Amiens

00:17:54.369 --> 00:17:57.500
sector. And the discipline required to maintain

00:17:57.500 --> 00:18:01.059
this secrecy in the South was absolute. Allied

00:18:01.059 --> 00:18:03.440
troops were strictly ordered to move only under

00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:05.740
the cover of darkness. During daylight hours,

00:18:05.779 --> 00:18:08.480
they were hidden in woods and villages. To further

00:18:08.480 --> 00:18:10.799
confuse any German observers who might notice

00:18:10.799 --> 00:18:13.799
movement, Allied troops would sometimes deliberately

00:18:13.799 --> 00:18:15.880
march in the wrong direction during the day.

00:18:16.059 --> 00:18:18.059
Only to turn around and march toward the front

00:18:18.059 --> 00:18:20.740
at night. The written orders distributed to the

00:18:20.740 --> 00:18:24.089
troops included a stark, pasted -in warning Keep

00:18:24.089 --> 00:18:26.769
your mouth shut. They went to incredible lengths

00:18:26.769 --> 00:18:29.309
to disguise the intent. In the official planning

00:18:29.309 --> 00:18:32.569
documents and communications, the word offensive

00:18:32.569 --> 00:18:35.930
was strictly forbidden. The entire massive operation

00:18:35.930 --> 00:18:38.849
was casually referred to as a localized raid.

00:18:39.029 --> 00:18:41.210
The movement was so tightly controlled that the

00:18:41.210 --> 00:18:43.210
Canadian Corps wasn't even fully assembled in

00:18:43.210 --> 00:18:45.589
their final jumping off positions until August

00:18:45.589 --> 00:18:48.690
7th, literally hours before the attack was scheduled

00:18:48.690 --> 00:18:50.950
to commence. While the infantry maneuvers were

00:18:50.950 --> 00:18:53.650
a master class in deception, The artillery plan

00:18:53.650 --> 00:18:56.349
is where the technological innovation truly shines.

00:18:56.730 --> 00:18:58.690
If the core philosophy of the attack is absolute

00:18:58.690 --> 00:19:01.130
surprise, that presents a massive problem for

00:19:01.130 --> 00:19:03.509
the artillery batteries. Historically, Before

00:19:03.509 --> 00:19:06.549
launching a barrage, artillery units had to fire

00:19:06.549 --> 00:19:09.089
ranging shots. They would fire a few shells,

00:19:09.589 --> 00:19:11.569
spotters would observe where those shells landed,

00:19:11.970 --> 00:19:14.069
and the gunners would adjust their aim to account

00:19:14.069 --> 00:19:16.990
for wind, temperature, and barrel wear. But firing

00:19:16.990 --> 00:19:19.650
ranging shots acts as an immediate alarm bell

00:19:19.650 --> 00:19:22.250
to the enemy that their specific position is

00:19:22.250 --> 00:19:25.380
about to be attacked. So the Allied command tasked

00:19:25.380 --> 00:19:28.720
Major General C .E .D. Budworth, the senior artillery

00:19:28.720 --> 00:19:31.839
officer for the 4th Army, with devising a master

00:19:31.839 --> 00:19:34.119
fire plan that would be devastatingly accurate

00:19:34.119 --> 00:19:36.819
on the very first volley. Without a single ranging

00:19:36.819 --> 00:19:39.500
shot being fired. And the sheer volume of firepower

00:19:39.500 --> 00:19:42.240
we are talking about here is immense. The Allies

00:19:42.240 --> 00:19:47.599
amassed 1 ,386 field guns and howitzers, backed

00:19:47.599 --> 00:19:52.660
up by 684 heavy guns. That is 27 medium artillery

00:19:52.660 --> 00:19:55.529
brigades. and 13 heavy batteries all secretly

00:19:55.529 --> 00:19:58.329
moved into position. To aim thousands of artillery

00:19:58.329 --> 00:20:01.349
pieces silently and accurately, Budworth relied

00:20:01.349 --> 00:20:04.789
heavily on a relatively new highly mathematical

00:20:04.789 --> 00:20:08.250
technique known as sound ranging coupled with

00:20:08.250 --> 00:20:10.779
meticulous aerial photography. Sound ranging

00:20:10.779 --> 00:20:14.460
in 1918 was an incredibly complex process. It

00:20:14.460 --> 00:20:17.339
involved placing a precisely measured array of

00:20:17.339 --> 00:20:19.920
specialized microphones along the front line,

00:20:20.180 --> 00:20:23.319
connected by miles of fragile wire to a central

00:20:23.319 --> 00:20:25.880
recording station equipped with an oscillograph.

00:20:26.160 --> 00:20:28.319
Let's delve into how that actually worked in

00:20:28.319 --> 00:20:31.460
an era before digital computers. When a concealed

00:20:31.460 --> 00:20:34.240
German artillery piece fired, the sound wave

00:20:34.240 --> 00:20:36.380
of the blast would travel across the battlefield

00:20:36.380 --> 00:20:38.900
and reach those different microphones at slightly

00:20:38.900 --> 00:20:41.279
different milliseconds by analyzing the film

00:20:41.279 --> 00:20:43.380
strips from the oscillograph and calculating

00:20:43.380 --> 00:20:46.460
those minute time differences while also factoring

00:20:46.460 --> 00:20:48.299
in the air temperature and wind speed of the

00:20:48.299 --> 00:20:50.690
day. The allied technicians could mathematically

00:20:50.690 --> 00:20:53.250
triangulate the exact coordinates of the enemy

00:20:53.250 --> 00:20:55.829
gun. They combined that hard mathematical data

00:20:55.829 --> 00:20:57.950
with thousands of high -resolution photographs

00:20:57.950 --> 00:21:00.450
taken by reconnaissance aircraft, creating a

00:21:00.450 --> 00:21:03.230
hyper -accurate map of the German defenses. Because

00:21:03.230 --> 00:21:07.089
of this painstaking scientific preparation, Budworth's

00:21:07.089 --> 00:21:10.150
master timetable allowed the allied artillerymen

00:21:10.150 --> 00:21:15.109
to pre -target 504 out of the 530 known German

00:21:15.109 --> 00:21:17.609
artillery batteries in the sector. They had the

00:21:17.609 --> 00:21:20.170
coordinates locked in, entirely in secret, ready

00:21:20.170 --> 00:21:22.750
to unleash hell at zero hour. We have to talk

00:21:22.750 --> 00:21:25.730
about the tanks. Yes, because masking the movement

00:21:25.730 --> 00:21:28.349
of the armor might be the most fascinating, logistical

00:21:28.349 --> 00:21:31.369
detail in these sources. Almost 600 tanks were

00:21:31.369 --> 00:21:33.710
allocated for the Amiens offensive. You had the

00:21:33.710 --> 00:21:36.609
heavy Mark V fighting tanks, the extended Mark

00:21:36.609 --> 00:21:39.789
V -star models designed to cross wider trenches.

00:21:40.109 --> 00:21:42.390
Unarmed supply tanks designed to carry ammunition.

00:21:42.650 --> 00:21:45.599
And the faster, lighter medium Mark... A Whippet

00:21:45.599 --> 00:21:47.440
tank's assigned to support the cavalry corps.

00:21:47.759 --> 00:21:50.039
But a World War I tank is not a stealth vehicle.

00:21:50.279 --> 00:21:53.839
Far from it. A Mark V tank weighed 29 tons and

00:21:53.839 --> 00:21:57.700
was powered by a massive 150 horsepower Ricardo

00:21:57.700 --> 00:22:00.059
engine. The acoustic signature of just one of

00:22:00.059 --> 00:22:02.660
these machines echoing across the quiet pre -dawn

00:22:02.660 --> 00:22:05.430
countryside was deafening. The sound of 600 of

00:22:05.430 --> 00:22:07.490
them rumbling toward the front lines, grinding

00:22:07.490 --> 00:22:09.809
their metal tracks through the mud, would easily

00:22:09.809 --> 00:22:12.569
alert every German sentry within a five -mile

00:22:12.569 --> 00:22:14.970
radius that an armored assault was imminent.

00:22:15.349 --> 00:22:17.309
So how do you hide the sound of a mechanical

00:22:17.309 --> 00:22:20.450
army? The Allied planners came up with a brilliantly

00:22:20.450 --> 00:22:23.900
simple, yet incredibly dangerous solution. They

00:22:23.900 --> 00:22:26.000
decided to hide the noise of the tank engines

00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:28.640
using airplane engines. They calculated that

00:22:28.640 --> 00:22:31.720
the twin -engine Hanley Page 0400 heavy bombers

00:22:31.720 --> 00:22:34.940
used by the Royal Air Force had an acoustic profile

00:22:34.940 --> 00:22:38.200
that sounded remarkably similar to the deep rumble

00:22:38.200 --> 00:22:41.200
of a Mark V tank. The plan was to launch these

00:22:41.200 --> 00:22:43.660
massive bombers and have them fly continuous,

00:22:44.140 --> 00:22:46.319
low -altitude patrols up and down the German

00:22:46.319 --> 00:22:48.970
lines throughout the night. By deliberately flooding

00:22:48.970 --> 00:22:51.329
the battlefield with the droning noise of aircraft

00:22:51.329 --> 00:22:54.470
engines, they aimed to completely drown out and

00:22:54.470 --> 00:22:56.930
mask the mechanical clatter of the hundreds of

00:22:56.930 --> 00:22:59.029
tanks moving into their final assembly areas

00:22:59.029 --> 00:23:01.769
below. But the weather almost derailed the entire

00:23:01.769 --> 00:23:04.309
deception. On the night they needed to execute

00:23:04.309 --> 00:23:07.369
this sound masking operation, an unseasonably

00:23:07.369 --> 00:23:10.490
dense heavy fog rolled in blanketing the entire

00:23:10.490 --> 00:23:13.109
region. The visibility dropped to near zero.

00:23:13.339 --> 00:23:16.480
Flying a massive rudimentary bomber at low altitude

00:23:16.480 --> 00:23:20.279
in pitch black fog with only 1918 navigation

00:23:20.279 --> 00:23:23.579
instruments was essentially a suicide mission.

00:23:24.140 --> 00:23:26.420
The commanders of the two RAF squadrons assigned

00:23:26.420 --> 00:23:29.140
to the task felt the conditions were so hazardous

00:23:29.140 --> 00:23:31.579
they refused to officially order their pilots

00:23:31.579 --> 00:23:34.359
into the air. Instead, they asked for volunteers.

00:23:34.819 --> 00:23:38.140
Two men from 207 Squadron stepped forward to

00:23:38.140 --> 00:23:40.920
take the risk. Captain Gordon Flavell and Captain

00:23:40.920 --> 00:23:43.400
William Peace. They volunteered to fly their

00:23:43.400 --> 00:23:45.559
Hanley Page bombers through that blinding fog,

00:23:45.759 --> 00:23:48.000
weaving dangerously close to the ground, risking

00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:51.019
a fatal crash at any second solely to generate

00:23:51.019 --> 00:23:53.779
the necessary noise. Their immense bravery was

00:23:53.779 --> 00:23:56.079
absolutely critical to maintaining the secrecy

00:23:56.079 --> 00:23:58.960
of the entire Amiens offensive. And both men

00:23:58.960 --> 00:24:01.259
were later awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross

00:24:01.259 --> 00:24:03.480
for their actions that night. Even with the radio

00:24:03.480 --> 00:24:05.160
diversions, the sound ranging, and the bombers

00:24:05.160 --> 00:24:07.940
flying in the fog, the entire meticulously planned

00:24:07.940 --> 00:24:10.579
operation came within a hair's breadth of total

00:24:10.579 --> 00:24:13.359
disaster just 48 hours before it was supposed

00:24:13.359 --> 00:24:16.619
to begin. On August 6th, the Allied command experienced

00:24:16.619 --> 00:24:19.759
a moment of sheer terror. The German 27th Division,

00:24:20.299 --> 00:24:23.579
a highly elite and heavily armed Stastrup information,

00:24:24.420 --> 00:24:27.759
suddenly launched a fierce localized attack north

00:24:27.759 --> 00:24:31.000
of the Somme River. This attack hit the exact

00:24:31.000 --> 00:24:33.880
sector where the Allied forces were secretly

00:24:33.880 --> 00:24:36.579
crammed together, massing for their own offensive.

00:24:36.839 --> 00:24:39.059
The panic in the Allied headquarters must have

00:24:39.059 --> 00:24:41.319
been absolute. The initial thought had to be

00:24:41.319 --> 00:24:43.819
that the deception had failed, the German spies

00:24:43.819 --> 00:24:46.039
had figured it out, and the enemy was launching

00:24:46.039 --> 00:24:48.599
a preemptive strike to ruin the buildup. However,

00:24:48.740 --> 00:24:50.900
the historical records confirm that the German

00:24:50.900 --> 00:24:53.519
command was completely oblivious to the Allied

00:24:53.519 --> 00:24:56.299
buildup. This sudden attack was merely a localized

00:24:56.299 --> 00:24:59.220
act of retaliation. A week earlier, on the night

00:24:59.220 --> 00:25:03.079
of July 31st, the 5th Australian Division had

00:25:03.079 --> 00:25:05.519
conducted an aggressive trench raid north of

00:25:05.519 --> 00:25:08.279
the Somme, taking dozens of German prisoners.

00:25:08.400 --> 00:25:10.660
The attack by the German 27th Division on August

00:25:10.660 --> 00:25:13.819
6th was ordered solely as payback for that specific

00:25:13.819 --> 00:25:16.319
raid. They did manage to penetrate roughly 800

00:25:16.319 --> 00:25:18.880
yards into the Allied lines, causing chaos and

00:25:18.880 --> 00:25:21.460
casualties, but they had not uncovered the massive

00:25:21.460 --> 00:25:23.720
trap waiting for them. What a heart -stopping

00:25:23.720 --> 00:25:26.400
coincidence. The German shock troops eventually

00:25:26.400 --> 00:25:28.549
withdrew back to their original trench lines

00:25:28.549 --> 00:25:31.309
by the morning of August 7th, but the disruption

00:25:31.309 --> 00:25:34.470
forced the Allied commanders to scramble. Redraw

00:25:34.470 --> 00:25:37.250
lines and make frantic last -minute adjustments

00:25:37.250 --> 00:25:40.069
to their assembly areas. It is a perfect reminder

00:25:40.069 --> 00:25:42.349
that no matter how brilliant your mathematical

00:25:42.349 --> 00:25:45.230
fire plan is or how clever your airplane diversion

00:25:45.230 --> 00:25:48.890
is, the chaotic, unpredictable friction of war

00:25:48.890 --> 00:25:52.470
can always throw a massive wrench into the machinery.

00:25:52.690 --> 00:25:55.950
But despite the anxiety, the secrecy held firm.

00:25:56.170 --> 00:25:58.190
The German high command remained in the dark.

00:25:58.509 --> 00:26:00.589
The Canadian troops were in position, the thousands

00:26:00.589 --> 00:26:02.650
of artillery pieces were locked onto their targets,

00:26:03.029 --> 00:26:05.269
and the hundreds of tanks were idling quietly

00:26:05.269 --> 00:26:08.730
in the unseasonably thick fog. The timeline brings

00:26:08.730 --> 00:26:11.529
us to the early pre -dawn hours of August 8th,

00:26:11.549 --> 00:26:16.279
1918. The stage is set. It is 420 a .m. A dense

00:26:16.279 --> 00:26:18.900
freezing fog is clinging tightly to the ground,

00:26:19.079 --> 00:26:21.960
reducing visibility to mere yards. Along the

00:26:21.960 --> 00:26:24.779
line of Rawlinson's 4th Army, the British 3rd

00:26:24.779 --> 00:26:26.619
Corps is positioned north of the Somme River.

00:26:26.900 --> 00:26:29.099
In the center, south of the river, waits the

00:26:29.099 --> 00:26:31.400
Australian Corps. South of them, the Canadian

00:26:31.400 --> 00:26:34.980
Corps. And further south, the French 1st Army

00:26:34.980 --> 00:26:37.660
is prepared to launch their delayed attack. It

00:26:37.660 --> 00:26:41.869
is zero hour. At exactly 420 a .m., the eerie

00:26:41.869 --> 00:26:44.529
silence of the foggy morning is shattered with

00:26:44.529 --> 00:26:48.230
apocalyptic violence. Over 2 ,000 allied artillery

00:26:48.230 --> 00:26:51.930
pieces, guided entirely by Budworth's sound -ranging

00:26:51.930 --> 00:26:56.059
mathematics, open fire simultaneously. They deliberately

00:26:56.059 --> 00:26:59.220
avoided using massive quantities of poison gas

00:26:59.220 --> 00:27:01.680
shells in the days leading up to the attack.

00:27:01.759 --> 00:27:04.299
Which was unusual for 1918. Because they wanted

00:27:04.299 --> 00:27:06.779
to ensure the Germans felt no sense of impending

00:27:06.779 --> 00:27:09.920
dread. The shock was absolute, instantaneous,

00:27:10.440 --> 00:27:12.819
and completely overwhelming. Let's try to visualize

00:27:12.819 --> 00:27:15.339
the sheer terror of this moment from the perspective

00:27:15.339 --> 00:27:18.000
of a German sentry. You are standing in a freezing

00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:20.980
trench surrounded by dense white fog. You can't

00:27:20.980 --> 00:27:22.859
see anything. Without a single warning shot,

00:27:22.960 --> 00:27:25.980
the earth simply erupts. 500 of your own artillery

00:27:25.980 --> 00:27:28.079
batteries, the guns you rely on for protection,

00:27:28.500 --> 00:27:30.839
are violently destroyed in a single synchronized

00:27:30.839 --> 00:27:33.920
strike. And then out of that blinding mist, monstrous

00:27:33.920 --> 00:27:37.400
shapes begin to emerge. Hundreds of 29 -ton tanks

00:27:37.400 --> 00:27:40.210
moving relentlessly forward. followed immediately

00:27:40.210 --> 00:27:43.130
by tens of thousands of Allied infantrymen advancing

00:27:43.130 --> 00:27:45.829
tight behind a creeping barrage. We should detail

00:27:45.829 --> 00:27:48.009
what a creeping barrage actually entails because

00:27:48.009 --> 00:27:50.289
it requires incredibly difficult coordination.

00:27:50.750 --> 00:27:53.390
The Allied artillery was not firing at stationary

00:27:53.390 --> 00:27:55.529
targets anymore. They were firing a continuous

00:27:55.529 --> 00:27:58.430
wall of high explosive and shrapnel shells that

00:27:58.430 --> 00:28:01.410
advanced at a precise mathematical rate. Usually

00:28:01.410 --> 00:28:04.509
about 100 yards every three minutes. The Allied

00:28:04.509 --> 00:28:06.750
infantry were trained to walk dangerously close

00:28:06.750 --> 00:28:09.220
behind this advancing wall of explosive. The

00:28:09.220 --> 00:28:11.960
goal was to force the German defenders to stay

00:28:11.960 --> 00:28:14.779
hiding deep inside their dugouts until the barrage

00:28:14.779 --> 00:28:17.400
passed over them. At which point the Allied infantry

00:28:17.400 --> 00:28:19.500
would immediately be on top of the trench before

00:28:19.500 --> 00:28:21.579
the Germans could even man their machine guns.

00:28:21.960 --> 00:28:24.920
The psychological and physical shock was so profound

00:28:24.920 --> 00:28:28.079
that it took the surviving German forces a full

00:28:28.079 --> 00:28:30.940
five minutes to organize themselves enough to

00:28:30.940 --> 00:28:33.380
even begin returning artillery fire. And the

00:28:33.380 --> 00:28:35.559
sources point out an incredible detail about

00:28:35.559 --> 00:28:38.000
the speed of this advance. When the German artillery

00:28:38.000 --> 00:28:41.039
finally did manage to fire back, they aimed their

00:28:41.039 --> 00:28:43.700
shells at the known Allied assembly points in

00:28:43.700 --> 00:28:46.400
forward trenches. But the Allied forces were

00:28:46.400 --> 00:28:49.339
moving so rapidly behind that creeping barrage

00:28:49.339 --> 00:28:52.900
that those assembly areas were already completely

00:28:52.900 --> 00:28:55.980
empty. The German artillery was furiously bombing

00:28:55.980 --> 00:28:58.079
empty mud. In the first phase of the assault

00:28:58.079 --> 00:29:01.140
alone, seven entire divisions surged forward

00:29:01.140 --> 00:29:04.099
into the fog. You had the British 18th and 58th

00:29:04.099 --> 00:29:06.859
Divisions, the Australians 2nd and 3rd, and the

00:29:06.859 --> 00:29:10.039
Canadian 1st. Second and third divisions. Additionally,

00:29:10.140 --> 00:29:12.660
elements of the 33rd Infantry Division of the

00:29:12.660 --> 00:29:15.380
U .S. Army National Guard were attached to support

00:29:15.380 --> 00:29:17.339
the British forces in the difficult northern

00:29:17.339 --> 00:29:20.319
sector. The forward momentum was simply unstoppable.

00:29:20.519 --> 00:29:23.299
By 7 .30 a .m., just three hours and 10 minutes

00:29:23.299 --> 00:29:26.180
after the very first shot was fired, the attacking

00:29:26.180 --> 00:29:28.680
forces had completely captured the entirety of

00:29:28.680 --> 00:29:30.940
the first German defensive position. They had

00:29:30.940 --> 00:29:33.160
advanced nearly four kilometers, or about two

00:29:33.160 --> 00:29:35.819
and a half miles, into enemy territory. In the

00:29:35.819 --> 00:29:38.210
center of the line, the supporting units effortlessly

00:29:38.210 --> 00:29:40.369
pushed through the lead elements to attack the

00:29:40.369 --> 00:29:42.890
second tier of objectives another two miles further

00:29:42.890 --> 00:29:45.390
deep. The Australian units secured their first

00:29:45.390 --> 00:29:48.730
targets by 7 10 a .m. and barely an hour later

00:29:48.730 --> 00:29:51.650
the fourth and fifth Australian divisions alongside

00:29:51.650 --> 00:29:54.470
the Canadian fourth division had passed entirely

00:29:54.470 --> 00:29:56.789
through the initial breach and were operating

00:29:56.789 --> 00:29:59.589
in open country. The combined arms synergy was

00:29:59.589 --> 00:30:02.470
operating flawlessly. The original battle plan

00:30:02.470 --> 00:30:04.890
actually called for the third phase of the attack

00:30:04.890 --> 00:30:07.529
to be carried out by infantry who were physically

00:30:07.529 --> 00:30:11.029
riding inside the newly designed Mark 5 -star

00:30:11.029 --> 00:30:14.210
tanks. These tanks had been elongated specifically

00:30:14.210 --> 00:30:17.069
to carry troops across the massive anti -tank

00:30:17.069 --> 00:30:19.710
trenches of the Hindenburg Line. But the frontline

00:30:19.710 --> 00:30:21.990
infantry was advancing with such relentless,

00:30:22.109 --> 00:30:24.809
aggressive steed that they largely ignored the

00:30:24.809 --> 00:30:26.970
tanks and secured the final objectives completely

00:30:26.970 --> 00:30:29.470
on foot. Because the Allies had ripped such a

00:30:29.470 --> 00:30:31.990
massive hole completely through the deep German

00:30:31.990 --> 00:30:34.630
defenses, they were able to unleash the cavalry.

00:30:34.869 --> 00:30:37.289
A unit that had been largely useless during years

00:30:37.289 --> 00:30:39.789
of static trench warfare. They sent a cavalry

00:30:39.789 --> 00:30:42.380
brigade charging into the Australian sector and

00:30:42.380 --> 00:30:45.500
two full cavalry divisions poured into the Canadian

00:30:45.500 --> 00:30:48.380
sector, exploding the open ground. And in the

00:30:48.380 --> 00:30:51.079
skies above, the newly formed Royal Air Force

00:30:51.079 --> 00:30:54.460
was flying low -level sorties, strafing retreating

00:30:54.460 --> 00:30:56.940
German columns and preventing the enemy commanders

00:30:56.940 --> 00:30:59.799
from organizing any sort of coherent secondary

00:30:59.799 --> 00:31:02.059
defense. We must also account for the French

00:31:02.059 --> 00:31:04.759
First Army on the southern flank. They initiated

00:31:04.759 --> 00:31:07.400
their preliminary artillery bombardment right

00:31:07.400 --> 00:31:11.170
at 420 a .m. As agreed, hammering the German

00:31:11.170 --> 00:31:14.009
positions for three hours and 20 minutes. Once

00:31:14.009 --> 00:31:16.390
the shock had set in, the French 9th Corps and

00:31:16.390 --> 00:31:19.329
31st Corps rolled forward. They swiftly captured

00:31:19.329 --> 00:31:23.089
the town of Moroy by 930 a .m., took Miziere,

00:31:23.509 --> 00:31:26.059
and occupied Fresno by nine o 'clock. When you

00:31:26.059 --> 00:31:28.279
look at the timeline, the speed of this operation

00:31:28.279 --> 00:31:30.880
is simply absurd by the grim standards of World

00:31:30.880 --> 00:31:33.160
War I. We are discussing a conflict where armies

00:31:33.160 --> 00:31:35.559
would regularly fight for six straight months,

00:31:36.059 --> 00:31:37.819
enduring hundreds of thousands of casualties

00:31:37.819 --> 00:31:40.920
just to move the front line a few miserable miles.

00:31:41.259 --> 00:31:43.240
But on the morning of August 8th, the Canadian

00:31:43.240 --> 00:31:45.480
and Australian forces in the center of the attack

00:31:45.480 --> 00:31:47.880
advanced three miles from their starting positions

00:31:47.880 --> 00:31:50.880
before 11 a .m. There is a remarkably telling

00:31:50.880 --> 00:31:53.759
anecdote in the sources that perfectly captures

00:31:53.759 --> 00:31:55.799
the sheer velocity of the allied breakthrough.

00:31:56.019 --> 00:31:58.720
The advance was so rapid and unprecedented that

00:31:58.720 --> 00:32:01.819
an entire party of high ranking German officers

00:32:01.819 --> 00:32:04.779
and divisional staff were taken prisoner by allied

00:32:04.779 --> 00:32:07.079
troops while they were literally sitting at a

00:32:07.079 --> 00:32:09.319
table eating their morning breakfast. They were

00:32:09.319 --> 00:32:11.799
miles behind what they assumed was the front

00:32:11.799 --> 00:32:13.960
line. They had absolutely no idea the defensive

00:32:13.960 --> 00:32:16.019
perimeter had been obliterated and that the enemy

00:32:16.019 --> 00:32:18.460
was already operating deep in their rear areas.

00:32:18.599 --> 00:32:21.220
By the time the sun set on that first day, the

00:32:21.220 --> 00:32:23.339
Allies had punched a catastrophic hole in the

00:32:23.339 --> 00:32:26.000
German lines south of the Somme River. A gap

00:32:26.000 --> 00:32:29.319
24 kilometers long, that is 15 miles of front

00:32:29.319 --> 00:32:32.240
line, was torn completely open. Let's examine

00:32:32.240 --> 00:32:34.740
the concrete data from day one because the numbers

00:32:34.740 --> 00:32:37.460
paint an incredibly stark picture of just how

00:32:37.460 --> 00:32:39.579
one -sided this mechanized breakthrough was.

00:32:39.859 --> 00:32:43.299
On average, the Allied forces penetrated 11 kilometers,

00:32:43.500 --> 00:32:46.440
or nearly seven miles, deep into enemy territory

00:32:46.440 --> 00:32:48.559
in a single day. Breaking those numbers down

00:32:48.559 --> 00:32:51.180
by sector, the Canadian Corps achieved the deepest

00:32:51.180 --> 00:32:55.000
penetration, advancing 13 kilometers. gained

00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:58.299
11 kilometers. The French forces gained 8 kilometers.

00:32:58.579 --> 00:33:00.880
And the British forces, fighting through heavily

00:33:00.880 --> 00:33:03.720
cratered and difficult terrain north of the Somme,

00:33:04.039 --> 00:33:07.680
gained about 3 .2 kilometers. In total, the Allied

00:33:07.680 --> 00:33:10.819
armies captured over 15 ,000 German prisoners

00:33:10.819 --> 00:33:15.089
on August 8th alone. 15 ,000 men choosing to

00:33:15.089 --> 00:33:17.170
surrender in a span of hours. And the overall

00:33:17.170 --> 00:33:19.849
casualty figures are equally striking. The total

00:33:19.849 --> 00:33:22.529
German losses for that single day were estimated

00:33:22.529 --> 00:33:25.650
to be around 30 ,000 men killed, wounded or captured.

00:33:25.890 --> 00:33:28.430
In stark contrast, the massive Allied assault

00:33:28.430 --> 00:33:31.369
force suffered only around 12 ,000 casualties.

00:33:31.490 --> 00:33:34.609
It was a sweeping, historic tactical victory.

00:33:34.690 --> 00:33:37.130
However, what secures the Battle of Amias its

00:33:37.130 --> 00:33:40.069
legendary status in history isn't merely the

00:33:40.069 --> 00:33:42.960
sheer acreage of physical territory. recaptured

00:33:42.960 --> 00:33:45.500
or even the devastating casualty ratios. It was

00:33:45.500 --> 00:33:48.980
the profound irreversible psychological devastation

00:33:48.980 --> 00:33:51.559
this defeat inflicted upon the German high command

00:33:51.559 --> 00:33:54.180
and the average soldiers shivering in the trenches.

00:33:54.660 --> 00:33:56.799
Physical ground can be lost in a war and it can

00:33:56.799 --> 00:33:59.589
be won back a week later. But when the fundamental

00:33:59.589 --> 00:34:02.450
fighting spirit of an army is broken, it is a

00:34:02.450 --> 00:34:05.049
catastrophic injury from which a military force

00:34:05.049 --> 00:34:08.570
rarely recovers. General Erich Ludendorff, the

00:34:08.570 --> 00:34:10.670
quartermaster general and effectively the commander

00:34:10.670 --> 00:34:13.630
of the German military effort, recognized this

00:34:13.630 --> 00:34:16.989
instantly. In his memoirs, he famously designated

00:34:16.989 --> 00:34:19.889
August 8th as the Schwarzer Tag des Deutschen

00:34:19.889 --> 00:34:22.690
Hares. The Black Day of the German Army. And

00:34:22.690 --> 00:34:25.230
reading his accounts, Ludendorff made it explicitly

00:34:25.230 --> 00:34:28.510
clear why he chose that somber title. He wasn't

00:34:28.510 --> 00:34:31.110
despairing over the miles of French farmland

00:34:31.110 --> 00:34:33.389
they had lost to the advancing tanks. He called

00:34:33.389 --> 00:34:36.329
it the Black Day because on that morning he realized

00:34:36.329 --> 00:34:38.869
the underlying morale of the German soldier had

00:34:38.869 --> 00:34:41.630
completely and utterly evaporated. It sank to

00:34:41.630 --> 00:34:44.710
a terrifying nadir where massive formations of

00:34:44.710 --> 00:34:46.489
troops weren't fighting to the death and they

00:34:46.489 --> 00:34:48.690
weren't executing organized fighting retreats.

00:34:48.690 --> 00:34:50.349
They were simply throwing down their weapons

00:34:50.349 --> 00:34:53.449
and capitulating. Five entire German divisions

00:34:53.449 --> 00:34:56.829
were effectively engulfed, neutralized and wiped

00:34:56.829 --> 00:34:59.690
off the order of battle in hours. The primary

00:34:59.690 --> 00:35:02.610
sources detail a complete breakdown in fundamental

00:35:02.610 --> 00:35:04.869
military discipline that is chilling to read.

00:35:05.190 --> 00:35:07.929
We are not just discussing exhausted men fleeing

00:35:07.929 --> 00:35:11.150
from tanks. We are looking at accounts of brazen

00:35:11.150 --> 00:35:14.170
open mutiny occurring directly on the battlefield.

00:35:14.489 --> 00:35:17.809
As defeated, demoralized German troops were streaming

00:35:17.809 --> 00:35:20.349
backward away from the advancing Allied armor.

00:35:20.670 --> 00:35:22.809
They were actively turning on their own officers

00:35:22.809 --> 00:35:24.909
who were desperately attempting to rally them.

00:35:24.969 --> 00:35:26.989
They were shouting, you're prolonging the war

00:35:26.989 --> 00:35:30.349
directly at their commanders. That specific phrase,

00:35:30.769 --> 00:35:34.090
prolonging the war, signals a massive psychological

00:35:34.090 --> 00:35:36.590
paradigm shift. When a soldier yells that at

00:35:36.590 --> 00:35:39.250
their own commanding officer, they no longer

00:35:39.250 --> 00:35:41.550
view the conflict as a patriotic struggle for

00:35:41.550 --> 00:35:44.519
national survival or victory. They view the war

00:35:44.519 --> 00:35:47.380
purely as a senseless, unwinnable meat grinder.

00:35:47.639 --> 00:35:49.659
And more importantly, they view their own officers

00:35:49.659 --> 00:35:52.320
not as leaders to be followed, but as the cruel

00:35:52.320 --> 00:35:55.099
architects forcing them to remain inside that

00:35:55.099 --> 00:35:57.579
machine. The animosity extended even further.

00:35:57.739 --> 00:35:59.960
When those retreating soldiers passed by fresh

00:35:59.960 --> 00:36:02.440
German reserve troops who were marching forward

00:36:02.440 --> 00:36:04.579
to the front lines to try and plug the massive

00:36:04.579 --> 00:36:08.320
15 -mile gap, the retreating men hurled furious

00:36:08.320 --> 00:36:10.340
insults at them. They literally called their

00:36:10.340 --> 00:36:12.960
own reinforcements black legs. Which is a highly

00:36:12.960 --> 00:36:15.300
loaded term. Blackleg is traditionally used in

00:36:15.300 --> 00:36:18.480
a civilian labor dispute to describe a strikebreaker.

00:36:19.400 --> 00:36:22.940
A scab. By using that specific word, the retreating

00:36:22.940 --> 00:36:25.840
soldiers were essentially making a unified declaration.

00:36:26.119 --> 00:36:28.699
We have gone on strike. We refuse to participate

00:36:28.699 --> 00:36:30.880
in this war anymore. And by marching up here

00:36:30.880 --> 00:36:33.219
to fight, you are breaking our strike and keeping

00:36:33.219 --> 00:36:36.170
this horror going. When an imperial army begins

00:36:36.170 --> 00:36:38.429
viewing its military service through the lens

00:36:38.429 --> 00:36:40.969
of a hostile labor strike against its own government,

00:36:41.610 --> 00:36:44.750
the war is, in their minds, definitively over.

00:36:45.349 --> 00:36:47.650
General Paul von Hindenburg, the legendary chief

00:36:47.650 --> 00:36:50.190
of the German general staff, offered his own

00:36:50.190 --> 00:36:53.030
grim analytical assessment of the disaster. He

00:36:53.030 --> 00:36:55.389
pointed to how completely the Allies had managed

00:36:55.389 --> 00:36:58.070
to dismantle the German command and control infrastructure.

00:36:58.760 --> 00:37:01.019
Hindenburg recognized that the sheer velocity

00:37:01.019 --> 00:37:03.400
of the Allied armored advance, combined with

00:37:03.400 --> 00:37:05.860
Bugwort's incredibly precise artillery strikes

00:37:05.860 --> 00:37:08.619
on communication nodes, had physically isolated

00:37:08.619 --> 00:37:11.440
the German command posts. The commanders sitting

00:37:11.440 --> 00:37:14.219
in the rear echelons literally had no idea the

00:37:14.219 --> 00:37:16.579
front line had collapsed until Allied tanks were

00:37:16.579 --> 00:37:19.119
practically driving past their windows. The telephone

00:37:19.119 --> 00:37:21.219
wires were shredded, runners couldn't make it

00:37:21.219 --> 00:37:23.559
through the barrage, and as a result the command

00:37:23.559 --> 00:37:25.969
structure was paralyzed. They couldn't issue

00:37:25.969 --> 00:37:27.929
orders to fall back. They couldn't coordinate

00:37:27.929 --> 00:37:30.670
defensive artillery. And they were completely

00:37:30.670 --> 00:37:34.570
incapable of organizing any effective localized

00:37:34.570 --> 00:37:37.570
counterattacks. It was a total systems failure

00:37:37.570 --> 00:37:40.530
of both military infrastructure and human morale.

00:37:40.789 --> 00:37:43.489
It was the definitive turning point of the conflict.

00:37:43.690 --> 00:37:46.230
But as military history consistently demonstrates,

00:37:46.829 --> 00:37:50.809
war is rarely a neat cinematic narrative where

00:37:50.809 --> 00:37:53.760
one side executes a flawless victory. and the

00:37:53.760 --> 00:37:55.820
conflict neatly concludes the following day.

00:37:56.159 --> 00:37:58.599
As the sun set on the Black Day and the Allied

00:37:58.599 --> 00:38:01.000
commanders prepared to push their advantage into

00:38:01.000 --> 00:38:04.420
day two, the brutal grinding friction of war

00:38:04.420 --> 00:38:07.420
began to fiercely reassert itself. The second

00:38:07.420 --> 00:38:09.760
phase of the battle, running from August 9th

00:38:09.760 --> 00:38:11.860
through the 12th, which included the Battle of

00:38:11.860 --> 00:38:14.820
Montidier in the south, was a drastically different,

00:38:14.960 --> 00:38:18.539
much uglier story. The spectacular, fluid, mechanized

00:38:18.539 --> 00:38:21.239
advance of that first morning rapidly began to

00:38:21.239 --> 00:38:24.000
bog down, and it slowed down for a very pragmatic,

00:38:24.320 --> 00:38:26.480
unavoidable reason. The nightmare of logistics.

00:38:26.940 --> 00:38:29.579
The very speed that made the first 24 hours so

00:38:29.579 --> 00:38:32.519
historically successful became a critical liability

00:38:32.519 --> 00:38:35.320
onto day two. The Allied infantry and armor had

00:38:35.320 --> 00:38:38.699
pushed so far, so aggressively deep into German

00:38:38.699 --> 00:38:41.780
territory that they simply outran their own supporting

00:38:41.780 --> 00:38:45.340
artillery network. You cannot quickly drag heavy

00:38:45.340 --> 00:38:48.920
multi -ton howitzers through miles of newly captured,

00:38:49.219 --> 00:38:51.880
heavily cratered, mud -soaked battlefields at

00:38:51.880 --> 00:38:54.260
the same speed a soldier can sprint. And without

00:38:54.260 --> 00:38:56.659
that protective umbrella of heavy artillery cover,

00:38:57.139 --> 00:38:59.559
the advancing infantry once again became highly

00:38:59.559 --> 00:39:02.440
vulnerable to entrenched German machine guns.

00:39:02.730 --> 00:39:04.650
The road networks were an absolute disaster,

00:39:04.949 --> 00:39:07.530
too. On the Canadian front, the few intact roads

00:39:07.530 --> 00:39:10.309
became paralyzed by unbelievable congestion.

00:39:10.510 --> 00:39:12.409
You had fresh troops trying to march forward,

00:39:12.710 --> 00:39:15.250
supply wagons hauling ammunition, thousands of

00:39:15.250 --> 00:39:17.050
wounded men being evacuated back to the rear,

00:39:17.230 --> 00:39:19.449
and massive columns of German prisoners being

00:39:19.449 --> 00:39:21.909
marched away from the front. It created a monumental

00:39:21.909 --> 00:39:24.349
traffic jam. The British 32nd Division, which

00:39:24.349 --> 00:39:26.389
was ordered to push forward rapidly to maintain

00:39:26.389 --> 00:39:28.969
the momentum of the attack, simply got stuck

00:39:28.969 --> 00:39:31.409
in the gridlock. They physically could not reach

00:39:31.409 --> 00:39:34.090
the front lines fast enough to exploit the gaps.

00:39:34.329 --> 00:39:36.650
Furthermore, we have to critically examine the

00:39:36.650 --> 00:39:38.969
mechanical attrition rate of the armored forces.

00:39:39.550 --> 00:39:42.289
This specific data point is staggering and vital

00:39:42.289 --> 00:39:44.719
to understanding the era. We established that

00:39:44.719 --> 00:39:47.380
the Allies launched the Amiens offensive with

00:39:47.380 --> 00:39:50.639
a formidable force of nearly 600 tanks, which

00:39:50.639 --> 00:39:53.360
were absolutely instrumental in crushing the

00:39:53.360 --> 00:39:55.880
barbed wire and breaking the lines on August

00:39:55.880 --> 00:39:59.239
8th. Within just four days of continuous combat

00:39:59.239 --> 00:40:02.280
operations, out of those 500 -plus forward fighting

00:40:02.280 --> 00:40:05.780
tanks, only six individual machines were still

00:40:05.780 --> 00:40:09.340
considered battle -ready. Six. From over 500

00:40:09.340 --> 00:40:11.699
fighting tanks down to six in less than a week.

00:40:11.849 --> 00:40:14.469
That is a completely unimaginable attrition rate.

00:40:14.809 --> 00:40:17.469
It perfectly encapsulates the extreme technological

00:40:17.469 --> 00:40:20.789
limitations of 1918. Tanks were a revolutionary

00:40:20.789 --> 00:40:23.309
concept. They represented an absolute paradigm

00:40:23.309 --> 00:40:25.610
shift for breaking the deadlock of trench warfare.

00:40:26.070 --> 00:40:29.170
But mechanically, they were incredibly unreliable,

00:40:29.210 --> 00:40:32.030
rudimentary beasts. The environment inside a

00:40:32.030 --> 00:40:35.210
Mark V was hellish. Temperatures reached well

00:40:35.210 --> 00:40:37.889
over a hundred degrees, the air was thick with

00:40:37.889 --> 00:40:40.250
toxic carbon monoxide from the exposed engine,

00:40:40.630 --> 00:40:43.730
and the deafening noise made communication impossible.

00:40:44.110 --> 00:40:46.449
Beyond the sheer exhaustion of the crews, the

00:40:46.449 --> 00:40:49.030
massive engines constantly broke down, the metal

00:40:49.030 --> 00:40:51.710
tracks snapped in the deep mud, and because they

00:40:51.710 --> 00:40:54.230
moved at a walking pace they were prime, highly

00:40:54.230 --> 00:40:57.250
visible targets for concentrated German field

00:40:57.250 --> 00:40:59.769
artillery. The harsh battlefield environment

00:40:59.769 --> 00:41:02.789
simply devoured the machinery. And as the armored

00:41:02.789 --> 00:41:05.909
momentum stalled and the tanks broke down, the

00:41:05.909 --> 00:41:08.769
fighting reverted to the incredibly bloody, static

00:41:08.769 --> 00:41:11.369
nature the troops knew all too well. Up north,

00:41:11.570 --> 00:41:13.409
in the sector assigned to the British 3rd Corps,

00:41:13.809 --> 00:41:16.230
there was a specific punishing piece of geography

00:41:16.230 --> 00:41:18.630
that turned into an absolute nightmare for the

00:41:18.630 --> 00:41:20.670
Allied advance. It was called the Chipley Spur.

00:41:21.070 --> 00:41:24.329
Chipley Ridge was a bare, prominent, 75 foot

00:41:24.329 --> 00:41:27.530
high chalk ridge located inside a deep, winding

00:41:27.530 --> 00:41:30.449
oxbow bend of the Salm River, situated near the

00:41:30.449 --> 00:41:32.659
small village of Chipley. The British forces

00:41:32.659 --> 00:41:35.019
had failed to capture it on the initial thrust

00:41:35.019 --> 00:41:38.019
of August 8th due to the exceedingly rough terrain

00:41:38.019 --> 00:41:40.400
and the fact that they were only allocated a

00:41:40.400 --> 00:41:43.059
single tank battalion for support in that northern

00:41:43.059 --> 00:41:45.940
sector. Because it was elevated 75 feet above

00:41:45.940 --> 00:41:48.500
the surrounding river valley, the ridge provided

00:41:48.500 --> 00:41:51.619
the German defenders with a sweeping commanding

00:41:51.619 --> 00:41:53.940
view over a vast expanse of the battlefield.

00:41:54.429 --> 00:41:57.210
The German machine gunners and artillery observers

00:41:57.210 --> 00:42:00.030
were sitting highly elevated on this ridge looking

00:42:00.030 --> 00:42:03.030
directly down across the river valley and pouring

00:42:03.030 --> 00:42:06.969
a devastating unceasing volume of fire directly

00:42:06.969 --> 00:42:10.010
down onto the Australian Corps who were completely

00:42:10.010 --> 00:42:12.980
pinned down near a place called Hamel. The Australians

00:42:12.980 --> 00:42:15.219
were trapped. They literally couldn't move out

00:42:15.219 --> 00:42:17.119
of their shallow trenches without getting immediately

00:42:17.119 --> 00:42:20.360
cut to pieces by plunging fire. The Allies desperately

00:42:20.360 --> 00:42:22.280
had to take that ridge to relieve the pressure,

00:42:22.639 --> 00:42:25.219
but the British forces in that sector were exhausted,

00:42:25.719 --> 00:42:28.239
depleted, and heavily bogged down. Consequently,

00:42:28.639 --> 00:42:31.119
the desperate, brutal job of assaulting Chipoli

00:42:31.119 --> 00:42:34.409
Ridge was handed over to the Americans. Specifically,

00:42:34.829 --> 00:42:37.610
three battalions of American infantrymen, often

00:42:37.610 --> 00:42:41.210
referred to as Doughboys, from the 33rd U .S.

00:42:41.429 --> 00:42:44.170
Infantry Division. These were primarily National

00:42:44.170 --> 00:42:46.949
Guard troops who had been temporarily attached

00:42:46.949 --> 00:42:49.610
to support the British operations. The accounts

00:42:49.610 --> 00:42:52.849
of this specific assault are incredibly intense.

00:42:53.170 --> 00:42:56.590
At 5 .30 p .m. on the evening of August 9th,

00:42:56.570 --> 00:42:59.389
these American troops initiate their attack.

00:42:59.809 --> 00:43:02.309
They are ordered to march directly up this bare,

00:43:02.429 --> 00:43:04.730
chalky ridge, completely exposed to the enemy,

00:43:05.090 --> 00:43:07.389
while heavy German machine gun and artillery

00:43:07.389 --> 00:43:09.869
fire is continuously plunging down on them from

00:43:09.869 --> 00:43:12.110
the entrenched positions at the summit. Despite

00:43:12.110 --> 00:43:14.329
taking heavy casualties, they refuse to break

00:43:14.329 --> 00:43:16.269
or be driven back down the hill. Drawing from

00:43:16.269 --> 00:43:18.570
the sources, specifically referencing the historical

00:43:18.570 --> 00:43:21.429
analysis by author B .J. Omensson, the American

00:43:21.429 --> 00:43:23.730
forces repeatedly press the grueling assault

00:43:23.730 --> 00:43:25.909
until they finally manage to secure the northern

00:43:25.909 --> 00:43:28.599
half of the ridge, as well as the southern extremity

00:43:28.599 --> 00:43:31.440
of a nearby heavily fortified area known as Gressere

00:43:31.440 --> 00:43:33.739
Wood. They did not halt their momentum there.

00:43:34.119 --> 00:43:36.639
They continued pressing the brutal close quarters

00:43:36.639 --> 00:43:39.480
combat into the following day, eventually capturing

00:43:39.480 --> 00:43:41.760
the entirety of Gressere Wood from the German

00:43:41.760 --> 00:43:44.340
defenders. By the time the American assault concluded,

00:43:44.460 --> 00:43:47.760
they had captured 700 German prisoners, seized

00:43:47.760 --> 00:43:51.780
30 heavy artillery pieces, secured an enemy airplane,

00:43:52.159 --> 00:43:54.579
and confiscated more than 100 deadly machine

00:43:54.579 --> 00:43:58.360
guns. But this victory required a massive toll

00:43:58.360 --> 00:44:01.880
in human life and endurance. And this specific

00:44:01.880 --> 00:44:04.440
engagement brings us to one of the most remarkable,

00:44:04.639 --> 00:44:07.280
deeply personal stories of the entire offensive.

00:44:07.639 --> 00:44:10.449
The heroism. of Corporal Jake Alex. Corporal

00:44:10.449 --> 00:44:13.010
Alex's story perfectly illuminates the deeply

00:44:13.010 --> 00:44:16.010
human individual element that exists amidst all

00:44:16.010 --> 00:44:19.369
this grand sweeping military strategy. Jake Alex

00:44:19.369 --> 00:44:22.230
was an immigrant born in Kosovo, Serbia. He traveled

00:44:22.230 --> 00:44:24.050
to the United States and found himself fighting

00:44:24.050 --> 00:44:27.150
in a U .S. Army uniform as part of the 33rd Division.

00:44:27.590 --> 00:44:29.949
During the absolute chaos and carnage of the

00:44:29.949 --> 00:44:32.369
uphill assault on Chipley Ridge, his platoon

00:44:32.369 --> 00:44:35.010
was being decimated by an entrenched German machine

00:44:35.010 --> 00:44:37.750
gun nest that was halting the advance. The situation

00:44:37.750 --> 00:44:40.730
becomes catastrophic. Every single commanding

00:44:40.730 --> 00:44:43.690
officer in his platoon is killed or severely

00:44:43.690 --> 00:44:46.460
wounded. in the relentless crossfire. So Jake

00:44:46.460 --> 00:44:49.179
Alex, an immigrant corporal, steps up into the

00:44:49.179 --> 00:44:52.519
leadership vacuum and assumes total command of

00:44:52.519 --> 00:44:54.820
the surviving men. He leads them in a direct,

00:44:55.199 --> 00:44:57.579
desperate frontal charge against that firing

00:44:57.579 --> 00:45:00.559
machine gun nest. According to his official citation,

00:45:00.679 --> 00:45:03.500
during that ferocious charge, he personally killed

00:45:03.500 --> 00:45:07.039
five enemy soldiers and captured 15 prisoners,

00:45:07.679 --> 00:45:09.820
violently silencing the gun that was destroying

00:45:09.820 --> 00:45:12.500
his unit. His actions under such extreme duress

00:45:12.500 --> 00:45:15.199
were so extraordinary and so tactically critical

00:45:15.199 --> 00:45:17.500
to the overall success of capturing the ridge

00:45:17.500 --> 00:45:19.960
and relieving the pinned down Australian forces

00:45:19.960 --> 00:45:22.739
across the river that Corporal Jake Alex was

00:45:22.739 --> 00:45:24.760
awarded the Medal of Honor. To put that into

00:45:24.760 --> 00:45:27.019
perspective, he became only the second American

00:45:27.019 --> 00:45:29.039
soldier to earn the Medal of Honor during the

00:45:29.039 --> 00:45:31.360
entirety of the First World War. It's an astonishing

00:45:31.360 --> 00:45:33.619
narrative that highlights the deeply international,

00:45:34.019 --> 00:45:36.420
complexly interwoven nature of this specific

00:45:36.420 --> 00:45:39.960
battle. You have. An immigrant from Kosovo wearing

00:45:39.960 --> 00:45:42.920
the uniform of the United States, taking command

00:45:42.920 --> 00:45:45.300
in the chaos of an assault on a French ridge,

00:45:45.739 --> 00:45:48.619
fighting a German machine gun crew, specifically

00:45:48.619 --> 00:45:51.000
to save the lives of Australian soldiers who

00:45:51.000 --> 00:45:53.659
are pinned down across the river valley. It is

00:45:53.659 --> 00:45:55.880
a vivid snapshot of what it means to fight a

00:45:55.880 --> 00:45:58.780
true world war. It truly is. And the successful

00:45:58.780 --> 00:46:01.260
capture of Chipoli Ridge essentially shattered

00:46:01.260 --> 00:46:04.900
the last major cohesive sticking point of the

00:46:04.900 --> 00:46:07.079
German defensive line in that immediate sector.

00:46:07.280 --> 00:46:09.940
By August 10th, the Allied reconnaissance planes

00:46:09.940 --> 00:46:13.059
and forward observers were reporting clear, undeniable

00:46:13.059 --> 00:46:15.179
signs that the German army was abandoning their

00:46:15.179 --> 00:46:17.840
positions and pulling out of the entire salient

00:46:17.840 --> 00:46:20.139
they'd so bloodily carved out during Operation

00:46:20.139 --> 00:46:22.260
Michael. They were in full retreat. By August

00:46:22.260 --> 00:46:25.199
13th... Even operating with almost zero functional

00:46:25.199 --> 00:46:27.599
tanks left to support the infantry, the British

00:46:27.599 --> 00:46:30.980
forces had managed to drive a staggering 12 miles

00:46:30.980 --> 00:46:33.780
deep into the former German positions. Officially,

00:46:34.019 --> 00:46:36.760
by August 27th, command reports stated the Allies

00:46:36.760 --> 00:46:39.360
had captured nearly 50 ,000 German prisoners

00:46:39.360 --> 00:46:43.119
and over 500 artillery pieces in the Amiens sector.

00:46:43.559 --> 00:46:46.699
But at this crucial juncture, Field Marshal Haig

00:46:46.699 --> 00:46:49.500
makes a highly significant strategic decision

00:46:49.500 --> 00:46:52.130
regarding the future of the campaign. Marshall

00:46:52.130 --> 00:46:54.210
Fosch, acting as the Supreme Allied Commander,

00:46:54.670 --> 00:46:57.130
was determined to keep aggressively pushing the

00:46:57.130 --> 00:46:59.809
Amiens offensive forward, desperate to squeeze

00:46:59.809 --> 00:47:03.030
every last drop of territorial gain and momentum

00:47:03.030 --> 00:47:06.090
out of the retreating Germans. But Haig firmly

00:47:06.090 --> 00:47:09.230
refused the request. He possessed a clear -eyed

00:47:09.230 --> 00:47:12.130
understanding of the tactical reality on the

00:47:12.130 --> 00:47:14.940
ground. His troops were deeply exhausted, the

00:47:14.940 --> 00:47:17.320
logistical supply lines were dangerously strained,

00:47:17.699 --> 00:47:20.000
the tank corps was non -existent, and the vital

00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:22.880
element of surprise was completely gone. Instead

00:47:22.880 --> 00:47:25.099
of grinding his men into dust against the rapidly

00:47:25.099 --> 00:47:27.960
hardening secondary German defensive lines, Haig

00:47:27.960 --> 00:47:30.489
preferred to halt the Amiens operation. shift

00:47:30.489 --> 00:47:33.449
the focus entirely, and launch a fresh, massive

00:47:33.449 --> 00:47:35.929
offensive with General Julian Bing's 3rd Army

00:47:35.929 --> 00:47:38.070
further north in the sector between the Ankar

00:47:38.070 --> 00:47:40.409
and the Skarpie Rivers. That strategic pivot

00:47:40.409 --> 00:47:42.349
kicked off the Second Battle of the Somme on

00:47:42.349 --> 00:47:45.050
August 21st. But even as the localized Battle

00:47:45.050 --> 00:47:47.969
of Amiens officially wrapped up, its impact on

00:47:47.969 --> 00:47:50.309
the trajectory of the war was absolute and permanent.

00:47:50.570 --> 00:47:54.110
The fundamental tempo of the conflict had irreversibly

00:47:54.110 --> 00:47:57.369
changed. It had changed completely. Amiens marks

00:47:57.369 --> 00:48:00.809
the definitive death knell of the static unimaginative

00:48:00.809 --> 00:48:03.670
trench warfare that had stubbornly defined the

00:48:03.670 --> 00:48:06.309
Western Front ever since the race to the sea

00:48:06.309 --> 00:48:10.150
in the autumn of 1914. When both armies initially

00:48:10.150 --> 00:48:12.920
tried to outflank each other, digging trenches

00:48:12.920 --> 00:48:15.780
all the way from the Swiss border to the English

00:48:15.780 --> 00:48:18.920
Channel. Mobile combined arms warfare had officially

00:48:18.920 --> 00:48:21.239
returned to the battlefield. Monash and the Allied

00:48:21.239 --> 00:48:24.059
command proved that if you utilized armor in

00:48:24.059 --> 00:48:26.659
mass quantities, precisely synchronized with

00:48:26.659 --> 00:48:29.820
creeping artillery barrages, relentless air support

00:48:29.820 --> 00:48:33.139
and highly motivated infantry, you could successfully

00:48:33.139 --> 00:48:36.380
rupture the deepest, most complex defensive lines

00:48:36.380 --> 00:48:38.960
imaginable. The British war correspondent Philip

00:48:38.960 --> 00:48:40.800
Gibbs was actually present on the battlefield.

00:48:41.130 --> 00:48:43.750
And he wrote a dispatch on August 27th that perfectly

00:48:43.750 --> 00:48:45.949
captures the profound shift in the atmosphere.

00:48:46.230 --> 00:48:48.469
He observed that the operational initiative was

00:48:48.469 --> 00:48:51.050
now so completely in allied hands that they were

00:48:51.050 --> 00:48:52.849
able to strike the enemy at multiple different

00:48:52.849 --> 00:48:56.010
locations entirely at will. But his most astute,

00:48:56.289 --> 00:48:58.670
enduring observation was regarding the mindset

00:48:58.670 --> 00:49:01.829
of the men. He wrote, the change has been greater

00:49:01.829 --> 00:49:04.610
in the minds of men than in the taking of territory.

00:49:05.530 --> 00:49:07.989
Gibbs recognized a fundamental truth of conflict.

00:49:08.280 --> 00:49:11.820
The true victory wasn't the 12 miles of recaptured,

00:49:12.019 --> 00:49:15.340
ruined French mud. It was the monumental psychological

00:49:15.340 --> 00:49:17.480
shift. He noted that the Allied troops, who had

00:49:17.480 --> 00:49:19.860
been battered for years, were suddenly buoyed

00:49:19.860 --> 00:49:22.579
by an enormous, palpable hope that they could

00:49:22.579 --> 00:49:24.699
finally get on with this business quickly and

00:49:24.699 --> 00:49:27.099
end the war. Conversely, he observed that the

00:49:27.099 --> 00:49:29.519
German forces no longer possessed even a dim,

00:49:29.840 --> 00:49:32.139
flickering hope of achieving victory on the Western

00:49:32.139 --> 00:49:35.320
Front. As Gibbs bluntly put it, all the German

00:49:35.320 --> 00:49:38.000
army hoped for now was to defend themselves long

00:49:38.000 --> 00:49:41.159
enough to compel a peace by negotiation. Amiens

00:49:41.159 --> 00:49:43.199
forced the German high command to confront their

00:49:43.199 --> 00:49:46.360
inevitable defeat. The sheer magnitude and strategic

00:49:46.360 --> 00:49:48.780
brilliance of what was achieved at Amiens resulted

00:49:48.780 --> 00:49:51.619
in an unprecedented wave of honors and decorations.

00:49:52.119 --> 00:49:53.980
On August 12th, while the second phase of the

00:49:53.980 --> 00:49:56.519
battle was still technically underway, King George

00:49:56.519 --> 00:49:59.000
V actually traveled across the channel to the

00:49:59.000 --> 00:50:01.269
battlefield. He formally knighted Lieutenant

00:50:01.269 --> 00:50:03.869
General John Monash, the primary architect of

00:50:03.869 --> 00:50:06.590
the mechanized attack, investing him as a knight

00:50:06.590 --> 00:50:08.730
commander of the Order of the Bath, right there

00:50:08.730 --> 00:50:11.170
in the field amidst the troops. That was an incredibly

00:50:11.170 --> 00:50:14.869
rare, historically significant honor. The sources

00:50:14.869 --> 00:50:17.150
indicate it was the first time a British monarch

00:50:17.150 --> 00:50:19.489
had knighted a military commander on an active

00:50:19.489 --> 00:50:22.630
battlefield in 200 years. It speaks volumes about

00:50:22.630 --> 00:50:26.409
how heavily the British leadership valued Monash's

00:50:26.409 --> 00:50:30.139
brilliant unorthodox planning, and flawless execution.

00:50:30.400 --> 00:50:32.599
The immense courage of the individual soldiers

00:50:32.599 --> 00:50:34.900
fighting in the mud was recognized on a massive

00:50:34.900 --> 00:50:37.920
scale as well. Eight Canadian soldiers were awarded

00:50:37.920 --> 00:50:40.880
the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry,

00:50:41.440 --> 00:50:42.980
for their incredible actions during the Battle

00:50:42.980 --> 00:50:45.760
of Imia, including men like Private John Croke,

00:50:46.079 --> 00:50:48.519
Corporal Harry Minor, and Lieutenant Gene Brilliant.

00:50:48.670 --> 00:50:51.010
But one specific story from the Australian ranks

00:50:51.010 --> 00:50:53.730
really stands out in the historical record, the

00:50:53.730 --> 00:50:56.889
story of Alfred Gabby. Alfred Gabby's story serves

00:50:56.889 --> 00:51:00.690
as a profound, heartbreaking example of the bittersweet

00:51:00.690 --> 00:51:03.619
reality of this conflict. On the very first morning,

00:51:03.840 --> 00:51:06.219
August 8th, Gabby was acting as the commander

00:51:06.219 --> 00:51:08.639
of his unit when the rapid advance was suddenly

00:51:08.639 --> 00:51:11.599
halted by a large, heavily armed German force

00:51:11.599 --> 00:51:14.519
positioned about 40 yards beyond a dense wire

00:51:14.519 --> 00:51:16.860
obstacle. His unit is pinned down under heavy,

00:51:17.119 --> 00:51:19.679
concentrated machine gun and rifle fire. Gabby

00:51:19.679 --> 00:51:22.099
manages to find a small gap in the barbed wire.

00:51:22.280 --> 00:51:24.420
He approaches the enemy strongpoint completely

00:51:24.420 --> 00:51:27.039
single -handedly, maneuvering under a hail of

00:51:27.039 --> 00:51:29.719
bullets, and empties his revolver directly into

00:51:29.719 --> 00:51:32.380
the German garrison. He physically drives the

00:51:32.380 --> 00:51:35.000
surviving crews away from their weapons, capturing

00:51:35.000 --> 00:51:37.699
50 anti -soldiers and four heavy machine guns

00:51:37.699 --> 00:51:41.039
entirely by himself. He earns the Victoria Cross

00:51:41.039 --> 00:51:44.340
for this act of absolute unimaginable valor on

00:51:44.340 --> 00:51:46.539
what was the greatest day of advance in the entire

00:51:46.539 --> 00:51:49.659
war. But tragically, The war did not end on the

00:51:49.659 --> 00:51:52.559
afternoon of August 8th. Just three days later

00:51:52.559 --> 00:51:55.179
on August 11th, while leading his men in an assault

00:51:55.179 --> 00:51:58.119
on a town called Lihans, Alfred Gabey was shot

00:51:58.119 --> 00:52:01.300
and killed by a random enemy sniper. It is a

00:52:01.300 --> 00:52:04.639
stark grounding reminder. It pulls this grand

00:52:04.639 --> 00:52:08.159
sweeping narrative of a massive strategic empire

00:52:08.159 --> 00:52:11.980
toppling victory back down into the brutal, fragile,

00:52:12.380 --> 00:52:14.480
deeply individual reality of the soldiers fighting

00:52:14.480 --> 00:52:16.780
on the ground. A man can achieve the highest

00:52:16.780 --> 00:52:19.900
possible valor single -handedly change the course

00:52:19.900 --> 00:52:22.719
of a local engagement and still fall victim to

00:52:22.719 --> 00:52:26.260
a single anonymous bullet just days later. It

00:52:26.260 --> 00:52:29.599
is a deeply sobering reality. And precisely because

00:52:29.599 --> 00:52:32.460
of the dramatic emotional highs and the devastating

00:52:32.460 --> 00:52:34.940
lows of this offensive, the Battle of Amiens

00:52:34.940 --> 00:52:37.360
has left a massive enduring footprint in our

00:52:37.360 --> 00:52:39.940
cultural memory. Even over a century later, the

00:52:39.940 --> 00:52:42.260
events of August 8th continue to be explored

00:52:42.260 --> 00:52:44.719
and represented across popular culture. We see

00:52:44.719 --> 00:52:46.599
the battle represented across widely different

00:52:46.599 --> 00:52:49.159
mediums. In the digital sphere, the video game

00:52:49.159 --> 00:52:51.920
Battlefield 1 features Amiens as a major, highly

00:52:51.920 --> 00:52:54.059
detailed map for modes like Conquest and Rush,

00:52:54.639 --> 00:52:56.440
and it serves as a pivotal part of the game's

00:52:56.440 --> 00:52:58.719
Kaiserschlag operation. The developers attempted

00:52:58.719 --> 00:53:02.079
to visually capture the intense, urban, and trench

00:53:02.079 --> 00:53:04.579
combat characteristic of that specific offensive.

00:53:04.920 --> 00:53:08.099
It also serves as a major dramatic plot point

00:53:08.099 --> 00:53:11.239
in television. If you have ever watched the historical

00:53:11.239 --> 00:53:14.380
drama Downton Abbey season two, episode five

00:53:14.380 --> 00:53:16.880
revolves entirely around the events of the Battle

00:53:16.880 --> 00:53:19.559
of Amiens. It depicts the battle where the central

00:53:19.559 --> 00:53:22.079
character Matthew Crawley is severely injured

00:53:22.079 --> 00:53:24.679
and paralyzed by an artillery shell and where

00:53:24.679 --> 00:53:27.340
the young footman William Mason is tragically

00:53:27.340 --> 00:53:29.940
killed while heroically throwing himself in front

00:53:29.940 --> 00:53:32.800
of Matthew to shield him from the blast. And

00:53:32.800 --> 00:53:36.460
in literature. The sheer sensory horror and geographic

00:53:36.460 --> 00:53:39.599
chaos of the battle was brilliantly immortalized

00:53:39.599 --> 00:53:42.599
by the American war poet, Lieutenant John Allen

00:53:42.599 --> 00:53:45.679
Wyeth. Wyeth was a fascinating figure, a Princeton

00:53:45.679 --> 00:53:47.820
graduate educated in languages and literature

00:53:47.820 --> 00:53:50.159
who found himself serving as a soldier in the

00:53:50.159 --> 00:53:53.019
33rd U .S. Division. On the rainy pitch black

00:53:53.019 --> 00:53:55.599
night of August 8th, As the American forces were

00:53:55.599 --> 00:53:57.659
moving into their forward positions to eventually

00:53:57.659 --> 00:54:00.000
assault the Chipoli Ridge we discussed earlier,

00:54:00.400 --> 00:54:02.659
Wyeth and another lieutenant, Thomas J. Cochran,

00:54:03.119 --> 00:54:05.760
were assigned an incredibly dangerous, almost

00:54:05.760 --> 00:54:07.880
impossible mission. They were ordered to deliver

00:54:07.880 --> 00:54:10.679
highly classified, sealed operational orders

00:54:10.679 --> 00:54:13.440
from the division headquarters located at Moliombois,

00:54:13.480 --> 00:54:15.619
all the way forward to the field headquarters

00:54:15.619 --> 00:54:18.440
of the three specific battalions tasked with

00:54:18.440 --> 00:54:21.079
the attack. And the terrifying part is Command

00:54:21.079 --> 00:54:23.300
didn't even know exactly where those battalions

00:54:23.300 --> 00:54:25.860
were currently located. Wyeth and Cochran just

00:54:25.860 --> 00:54:28.039
knew the battalions were somewhere in the darkness

00:54:28.039 --> 00:54:30.260
near the ruined village of Salih Lasek on the

00:54:30.260 --> 00:54:33.440
north bank of the Som River. Wyeth later channeled

00:54:33.440 --> 00:54:36.760
this harrowing, deeply traumatic experience of

00:54:36.760 --> 00:54:39.940
wandering blindly through a dark, chaotic, corpse

00:54:39.940 --> 00:54:42.480
-strewn battlefield into a brilliant sequence

00:54:42.480 --> 00:54:46.469
of poetry. In his 1928 literary work, This Man's

00:54:46.469 --> 00:54:49.889
Army, he composed six intricately interlinked

00:54:49.889 --> 00:54:52.190
sonnets that became known as the Chipley Ridge

00:54:52.190 --> 00:54:55.809
Sonnets. The literary critic B .J. Omensson powerfully

00:54:55.809 --> 00:54:59.090
described Wyeth's sequence as capturing a soldier's

00:54:59.090 --> 00:55:01.269
stumblings through the metaphoric valley of death.

00:55:01.650 --> 00:55:03.590
Wyeth's poetry doesn't just list the historical

00:55:03.590 --> 00:55:06.610
facts, it dives deeply into the crushing psychological

00:55:06.610 --> 00:55:09.289
and sensory nature of navigating an active war

00:55:09.289 --> 00:55:11.949
zone at night. He describes the blinding chalk

00:55:11.949 --> 00:55:14.750
dust, overwhelming smell of cordite and death,

00:55:15.269 --> 00:55:17.949
the sudden terrifying flashes of artillery illuminating

00:55:17.949 --> 00:55:21.650
the ruins, and the profound, isolating fear of

00:55:21.650 --> 00:55:23.809
stepping into the unknown darkness while the

00:55:23.809 --> 00:55:26.739
machinery of war grinds all around you. It serves

00:55:26.739 --> 00:55:29.199
as a vital historical counterweight to the neat

00:55:29.199 --> 00:55:31.340
clinical lines drawn on the generals tactical

00:55:31.340 --> 00:55:34.239
maps, reminding us of the visceral, terrifying

00:55:34.239 --> 00:55:37.159
reality experienced by the men tasked with actually

00:55:37.159 --> 00:55:39.460
executing the breakthrough. So as we wrap up

00:55:39.460 --> 00:55:42.019
this deep dive into the historical sources, let's

00:55:42.019 --> 00:55:44.019
look at the massive takeaways we've uncovered

00:55:44.019 --> 00:55:47.179
today. We witnessed an entire allied military

00:55:47.179 --> 00:55:50.380
apparatus shift away from a stubborn, unimaginative,

00:55:50.559 --> 00:55:53.440
bloody war of attrition to a dynamic doctrine

00:55:53.440 --> 00:55:55.900
based entirely on speed, new technology. technology,

00:55:56.519 --> 00:55:59.619
and unbelievable multisensory deception. We saw

00:55:59.619 --> 00:56:01.980
the absolute mastery of logistics orchestrated

00:56:01.980 --> 00:56:04.719
by John Monash, the wild desperate ingenuity

00:56:04.719 --> 00:56:06.980
of masking deafening tank engines with heavy

00:56:06.980 --> 00:56:09.420
bombers flying blindly through the fog, and the

00:56:09.420 --> 00:56:11.920
definitive birth of modern combined arms warfare.

00:56:12.280 --> 00:56:14.820
But above all, we witnessed the complete irreversible

00:56:14.820 --> 00:56:17.380
collapse of the German fighting spirit. If we

00:56:17.380 --> 00:56:19.300
synthesize everything we've analyzed in these

00:56:19.300 --> 00:56:22.059
sources today, The ultimate victor at Amiens

00:56:22.059 --> 00:56:24.559
wasn't simply the invention of the tank or the

00:56:24.559 --> 00:56:27.639
airplane or the complex mathematics of sound

00:56:27.639 --> 00:56:29.880
-ranging artillery. The technology was absolutely

00:56:29.880 --> 00:56:33.179
crucial, yes, but the true victor was unprecedented

00:56:33.179 --> 00:56:35.760
coordination. It was the remarkable ability of

00:56:35.760 --> 00:56:39.219
the Allied command to take French, British, Canadian,

00:56:39.519 --> 00:56:42.679
Australian, and American forces, along with infantrymen,

00:56:43.159 --> 00:56:46.260
armor crews, airmen, and artillerymen, and compel

00:56:46.260 --> 00:56:49.610
them all to act together as a single... devastating,

00:56:49.670 --> 00:56:53.050
synchronized organism. That precise level of

00:56:53.050 --> 00:56:55.489
complex cooperation is what finally shattered

00:56:55.489 --> 00:56:57.650
the Western Front. It stands as an incredible

00:56:57.650 --> 00:56:59.889
historical and logistical achievement. But I

00:56:59.889 --> 00:57:01.230
want to leave you with a final thought to mull

00:57:01.230 --> 00:57:04.010
over today as we conclude. When General Ludendorff

00:57:04.010 --> 00:57:06.289
sat down in his headquarters and officially declared

00:57:06.289 --> 00:57:08.769
August 8th the Black Day of the German Army.

00:57:09.210 --> 00:57:11.789
He wasn't staring at a tactical map. He wasn't

00:57:11.789 --> 00:57:14.269
mourning the loss of 12 miles of ruined French

00:57:14.269 --> 00:57:17.510
mud or even lamenting the loss of 500 artillery

00:57:17.510 --> 00:57:20.190
guns. He was looking directly into the faces

00:57:20.190 --> 00:57:23.769
of his own exhausted men. He was listening to

00:57:23.769 --> 00:57:26.389
the reports of them actively yelling strike breaker

00:57:26.389 --> 00:57:29.750
at their own reinforcements. It raises a truly

00:57:29.750 --> 00:57:32.929
fascinating, enduring question about the very

00:57:32.929 --> 00:57:36.260
nature of human conflict. How much of a war is

00:57:36.260 --> 00:57:38.860
actually fought in the physical world of muddy

00:57:38.860 --> 00:57:42.019
trenches, rusted barbed wire and artillery shells?

00:57:42.239 --> 00:57:44.960
And how much of it is actually fought and ultimately

00:57:44.960 --> 00:57:47.780
decided deep inside the complex architecture

00:57:47.780 --> 00:57:50.920
of the human mind? Because Amiens conclusively

00:57:50.920 --> 00:57:53.539
proves that when the fundamental belief in victory

00:57:53.539 --> 00:57:56.179
finally dies, when the psychological will of

00:57:56.179 --> 00:57:58.719
a soldier to continue the struggle simply evaporates,

00:57:58.960 --> 00:58:01.360
the war is already over, no matter how many bullets

00:58:01.360 --> 00:58:03.280
you still have left in your gun. A profoundly

00:58:03.280 --> 00:58:06.000
important point. end on. Indeed. Thank you so

00:58:06.000 --> 00:58:07.920
much for joining us on this deep dive into the

00:58:07.920 --> 00:58:10.300
historical sources. Keep exploring the past,

00:58:10.460 --> 00:58:12.280
keep questioning the narratives, and we will

00:58:12.280 --> 00:58:14.659
see you next time as we uncover another fascinating

00:58:14.659 --> 00:58:15.739
turning point in history.